Alyssa's Law Panic Alert Systems: Your Buyer's Guide

A panic alert system lets a teacher or staff member call for help silently, from wherever they are. If your state has an Alyssa's Law, or your board has adopted a policy like one, you are probably hearing a lot about Alyssa's Law compliant emergency systems. This guide is for the people who have to choose one, fund it and answer for it. It covers which requirements apply to you, what a system has to do, what to test in your own buildings, and what to ask before you sign.

One point first: a vendor sells capabilities, and your school system carries the duties. As the sections below show, those duties fall on your district, charter school or board: providing the system, placing devices, setting the procedures it follows and testing it. A vendor can show you that its system does what your rules name. Whether your system, as installed, configured and used, meets your duties is your evaluation to make.

Start with the rules that apply to your school system

Start with your own state's statute and rules, and your own district's policy. They differ from state to state. To see where your state stands, read the Alyssa's Law guide by state.

Texas and Florida show how much the details differ. Both require silent alert technology in public schools, but they describe it differently, put the duties on different people and pay for it differently. The two sections below take each state on its own terms and turn its requirements into things to see demonstrated. If you run a private school or another kind of facility, check which rules apply to you; the checklist later in this guide still works.

Texas: what the system must do, and what to have a vendor show you

Texas Education Code Section 37.118 requires each school district and open-enrollment charter school to provide each classroom with silent panic alert technology that allows for immediate contact with district or school emergency services and emergency services agencies, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments.

That section was numbered 37.117 until September 1, 2025, and some older agency documents still use the old number.

The provisions of the state's current school safety rule were adopted to be effective September 1, 2026. It says a school system's communications infrastructure must include a panic alert button, duress, or equivalent alarm system, via standalone hardware, software, or integrated into other telecommunications devices or online applications. It lists the following functionality the system must include. Each one is something to see demonstrated:

An alert must be capable of being triggered by campus staff, including temporary or substitute staff, from an integrated or enabled device. Ask how a substitute who starts this morning gets a device or access.
An alert must be triggered automatically when a district employee makes a 9-1-1 call using the system's hardware or integrated telecommunications devices from any location within the school system. Ask to see a test call produce an alert.
With any alert, the location where it originated must be included. Ask how location is determined indoors, on each floor and outside.
The alert must allow for immediate contact with the 9-1-1 dispatch center, district or school emergency services, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments, and it must notify designated administrators and simultaneously notify affected staff of the emergency. Ask to see who receives what, and in what order.
For exterior doors with electronic locking mechanisms that allow remote locking, the alert system must trigger those doors to lock automatically. If you have such doors, ask how the panic alert system connects to your door controls.

The rule also requires school systems to perform maintenance checks at least twice a year, including checks that all panic alert or similar emergency notification systems in classrooms and campus central offices function properly, with a notification successfully broadcast to all campus staff and to law enforcement and emergency responders. Ask each vendor how that check is run, how long it takes and what record it leaves. You can read more about Texas's requirements on the Texas Alyssa's Law page.

Florida: what the system must do, and what to have a vendor show you

Florida's State Board of Education rule requires school districts to implement a mobile panic alert system that meets all requirements of section 1006.07(4)(c) of the Florida Statutes. That statute requires each public school, including charter schools, to implement a mobile panic alert system capable of connecting diverse emergency services technologies to ensure real-time coordination between multiple first responder agencies. Known as “Alyssa’s Alert,” the system must integrate with local public safety answering point (PSAP) infrastructure to transmit 911 calls and mobile activations.

The rule adds requirements that shape what you buy and how you set it up:

Mobile panic alert systems must include mobile devices placed throughout each school, and districts must consider using a combination of fixed panic alert buttons, mobile and desktop applications, landline phone capabilities, and wearable panic alerts so that all staff members can silently and easily activate a panic alert in the event of an on-campus emergency. Ask each vendor which of these it supplies and how they work together.
Districts must develop their Alyssa's Alert policies and procedures in consultation with the county 911 authority and local emergency management office, so that the system selected integrates with local PSAP infrastructure. Bring your 911 authority into the evaluation early.
Any time the system fails to connect to the PSAP, the school safety specialist must notify the superintendent, the system's vendor and the Department of Education's office immediately, but no later than within 24 hours. Ask how a vendor's system tells you that a connection has failed.
Districts must keep a current list of the mobile panic alert system each school uses and provide it to the Department annually by August 1.

Florida law also requires district school boards to establish a schedule to test the functionality and coverage capacity of all emergency communication systems and determine if adequate signal strength is available in all areas of the school's campus.

Florida law also provides, subject to an appropriation, for a centralized system that public safety answering points can use to receive alerts from all panic alert systems and integrate digital school maps. If that system is established, each public school and charter school must confirm with the district school board that its panic alert system is connected to it, panic alert systems must be integrated with it, and the digital maps required under section 1013.13 must be integrated with it too. Ask your district or the Department whether it has been established, and ask each vendor how its system would connect and carry your maps. You can read more about Florida's requirements on the Florida Alyssa's Law page.

Vendor directories, state contracts and funding

A state's vendor directory or contract tells you about funding and procurement. It is not a list of the only products you may buy. Texas and Florida handle this differently.

Texas. The school safety allotment is set by Texas Education Code Section 48.160. Until September 1, 2025, it was section 48.115, the number TEA's letter and directory cite. The Texas Education Agency publishes a directory of approved vendors of school safety technology and equipment that a district may select from when it spends allotment funds. A district that uses allotment funds to buy from a vendor that is not included in the directory must solicit bids from at least three vendors before completing the purchase. TEA's letter on the directory says that “LEAs are not required to use a vendor approved by the agency” (LEAs are local education agencies: districts and charter schools). Its Silent Panic Alert Technology directory describes itself as “provided for informational purposes only.”

One qualification belongs next to that. The same statute lets TEA designate certain technologies that a district, when spending allotment funds, may purchase only from a vendor TEA has approved. Before you rely on an off-directory purchase with allotment funds, ask TEA whether any such designation covers panic alert technology.

TEA also says districts that wish to engage a provider on its directory should independently verify that the provider is able to provide the services the district needs. The directory's summary of state requirements was published before the current rule took effect, and its wording differs, so check any product against the current rule itself.

Florida. Florida's rule authorizes districts to select, free of charge, a system under Department contract, or to locally fund a system of their choice. The Department says school districts and charter schools may use a different vendor whose solutions meet all statutory requirements, but it will only cover the costs of agreed-upon services from its contracted vendors, up to each district's allocation. The contracted providers, chosen through the Department's procurement process with negotiated fixed pricing, are listed on the Department's Alyssa's Alert page. In Florida, then, your question is less whether a system is allowed than whether it meets the statute, and who pays.

In either state, confirm the funding route with your state office before you pilot anything. For other funding sources, see our school safety grants and funding guide.

Who receives an alert, and what happens next

A panic alert system carries out a response plan. Decide the plan first, then ask each vendor to show the system carrying it out. The decisions that matter most:

Which alerts you send to on-site responders (office staff, administrators, the school resource officer) and which you send to 911 dispatch.
Whether any alert waits for a person to confirm it before it goes further, and what your state's rules allow.
What every staff member is told during an emergency, and on which channels: phones, PA system, desktop pop-ups, strobes, radios.
What responders see: the location, a map of the building, who pressed, and what has happened since.
What happens after hours, on buses, at games and on field trips.
What happens if no one acknowledges an alert.

Then ask for demonstrations, not descriptions, of the integrations that carry that plan: the path to 911 or your PSAP (have your 911 authority confirm what it can receive), notification to staff, location and maps, two-way radios, door controls where your rules or plans call for locking, and any visitor management or camera system you expect to be involved.

Test it in your own buildings before you sign

A demonstration in a conference room proves very little about your buildings. Before you sign, test with the vendor on at least one campus:

Coverage, area by area. Press in every kind of space: classrooms, portables, gyms, stairwells, basements, kitchens, offices, parking lots, playgrounds and athletic fields. Record each result.
Signal. Check cellular and radio signal where alerts need to travel, and whether the system depends on your network or Wi-Fi.
Delivery time. Measure, in your building, how long an alert takes to reach each recipient. A quoted figure is not a measurement.
The real path. With your 911 authority's agreement, test how an alert and a 911 call reach dispatch, and how the system is tested without sending a real emergency.
Failure. Turn off power, network or a phone and see what happens: what fails, who is told, how fast, and how the system recovers.
People. Have a substitute, a new hire and an administrator each use the system with only the training the vendor proposes.
Records. Pull the record of each test alert and check that it shows what was sent, to whom and when.

Your state's own test duties (Texas's twice-yearly maintenance checks, Florida's testing schedule) are a good model for the acceptance test you write into the contract.

What is included, what is optional, and what depends on configuration

Two quotes you receive for a panic alert system can describe very different things. Ask each vendor to mark every item below as included, optional at extra cost, or dependent on configuration, in writing:

Devices: wearable badges or fobs, fixed wall or desk buttons, phone or desktop apps, desk phone integration.
Location: what produces it (installed beacons, phones, Wi-Fi, manual entry) and how precise it is indoors.
Connectivity: whether alerts travel over your network, staff phones or the vendor's own cellular connection.
911 dispatch: whether the connection to dispatch is included, how you enable it, and what dispatch receives.
Notifications: text, email, app, PA system, strobes, radios, desktop alerts.
Dashboard and records: who can see alerts, how long records are kept, and whether you can export them.
Integrations: doors, cameras, maps, visitor management, mass notification.
Device health: battery and connection status, and who watches it.

Questions to ask about cost, implementation, training and support

Cost

What is the full cost over the contract term, including devices, infrastructure, connectivity, dispatch connection, software, replacement devices and batteries?
Is pricing per campus, per device, per user or per building, and what happens to the price when you add staff or buildings?

Installation and acceptance

What does installation require: cabling, ceiling work, an electrician, your IT team, a site visit?
Who installs, and who places the devices and any location equipment?
Will the vendor test-press in every area you name before acceptance, with results recorded?
Which of your state's requirements will the vendor demonstrate in your buildings before you sign?

Training, support and testing

How are staff, responders and administrators trained, and is training for new hires and substitutes included for the life of the contract?
What support is included, during which hours, and how fast is a fault answered and fixed?
Who tells you when a device or connection fails, and how?
What testing does the vendor recommend, how often, and does it count toward your state's test duties?

Records and contract terms

Who owns the alert records, how long are they kept, and what happens to them when the contract ends?
What are the contract term, renewal terms and exit terms, and can you keep the devices if you leave?

A checklist to copy into your evaluation

Rate each line pass, fail or needs work, with the evidence beside it. Do not add up a total; one failed line can matter more than many passes. These are purchasing questions, not legal requirements.

Activation access: every staff member who needs to trigger an alert, including substitutes and new hires, can do it silently and easily.
Configuration dependencies: you know everything an alert depends on (phones, network, power, cellular service, location equipment).
Coverage: an alert succeeded in every area you tested, with results recorded.
Your state's functions: each function your state's rules name was demonstrated.
Response plan: each alert type reached the right people, on the right channels, in the right order.
Failure handling: you saw what happens when something fails, who is told and how fast.
Evidence of delivery: every test alert left a record of what was sent, to whom and when.
Responsibility for remediation: the contract says who fixes faults, how fast and at whose cost.
Funding route: the purchase fits your funding route and its procurement rules.

Where Positive Proof fits

Use the checklist above with us as you would with anyone: ask us to show each function your state's rules name, in your own buildings. Positive Proof Panic Buttons are built around those questions.

Staff press and hold a worn badge for 2 seconds. The badge confirms the press with one blink and makes no sound. The two-button badge has one button for on-site help and one that sends an emergency straight to 911 dispatch, when you enable it. Wall and desk buttons can run on the same system.

In the facility configuration, small anchors plugged into standard wall outlets give each alert the location where the button was pressed, and a gateway on its own cellular connection carries the alert, so nothing connects to your network. In this facility configuration, designated responders receive the alert with its location in under 2 seconds, and every alert carries a timestamped delivery record. For staff who travel, such as on field trips, a phone-paired configuration carries the alert through the staff member's phone, with their identity and GPS location.

Positive Proof has spent more than 20 years putting panic and duress technology into schools, courthouses, health systems and the places where staff work alone. Panic alerts share one dashboard with door monitoring and visitor management. After you buy, see the Alyssa's Law implementation guide for putting a system into practice. To walk through your own campuses and test list, request a demo.

Frequently asked questions

Is there such a thing as an Alyssa's Law compliant panic button?

Not on its own. State laws put the duties on school systems, so a panic button can have the functions your state's rules name, but whether your system meets your duties depends on how it is placed, configured, tested and used. When vendors describe Alyssa's Law compliant emergency systems, ask them to demonstrate each function your rules name, in your buildings.

Do we have to buy from our state's vendor list?

It depends on the state. In Texas, TEA's letter on the directory says that districts and charter schools are not required to use a vendor the agency has approved. A district that uses allotment funds to buy from a vendor that is not included in the directory must solicit bids from at least three vendors before completing the purchase. Texas law also lets TEA designate certain technologies that a district, when spending allotment funds, may purchase only from a vendor TEA has approved. Ask TEA whether any such designation covers panic alert technology. In Florida, the rule authorizes districts to select, free of charge, a system under Department contract, or to locally fund a system of their choice. Check your own state's rules and funding before you buy.

Does your panic alert have to go straight to 911?

It depends on your state's rules and your response plan. In Texas, the alert must allow for immediate contact with the 9-1-1 dispatch center, district or school emergency services, law enforcement agencies, health departments, and fire departments, and it must notify designated administrators and simultaneously notify affected staff of the emergency. In Florida, the system must integrate with local public safety answering point (PSAP) infrastructure to transmit 911 calls and mobile activations. Decide how each kind of alert should route with your 911 authority and responders.

Can a phone app satisfy Alyssa's Law?

The rules do not limit you to one kind of device. Texas's rule allows standalone hardware, software, or integration into other telecommunications devices or online applications. Florida's rule requires districts to consider using a combination of fixed buttons, mobile and desktop applications, landline phones and wearable panic alerts. An app depends on a phone being in hand, charged and connected, so test that dependency in your buildings.

Who on staff needs to be able to trigger an alert?

In Texas, an alert must be capable of being triggered by campus staff, including temporary or substitute staff, from an integrated or enabled device. In Florida, device placement must afford all staff members the ability to silently and easily activate a panic alert in the event of an on-campus emergency. In practice, plan for everyone who works with students, including substitutes and new hires.

Can school safety funds pay for a panic alert system?

In Texas, a district may use its school safety allotment or other available funds, and its customary procurement process, to provide silent panic alert technology. In Florida, the Department covers the agreed-upon services of its contracted vendors up to each district's allocation. For grants and other sources, see our school safety grants and funding guide.

How to Choose an Alyssa's Law Panic Alert System for Your Schools